For the Time Capsule – Sunday Wordy Sunday

by Steve Mitchell

Sunday, this last Sunday, was Alec’s last day of summer. He got a haircut. He put a shelf into his locker at school.

And, as I rode home from work, I saw a new, red, tiny Toyota with an odd wobble on the left, rear wheel.

Oh, that hubcap is about to go! I thought to myself.

Then the hubcap dropped off and rolled away and the owners of the Toyota never noticed. I thought of trying to tell them, but how can I, on a motorcycle, at 70 mph, communicate their hubcap has rolled away?

I can’t. So I didn’t.

Later, at home, Alec and Lucie cleaned his desk and readied his room for school.

I ate the half sandwich he gave me from his lunch. He called it a TLT – turkey, lettuce and tomato.

Also, a violent microburst tore through our neighborhood. Alec stepped out into the wind and rain and it soaked him in an instant. When the wind died down I took a photo of the rain in the sunlight.

The storm passed and the sun got low.

We ate dinner. We started to watch An Idiot Abroad on Netflix.

Then the power went out.

More than 40 houses in our area lost power. A neighbor told us she’d called the power company and was told the electricity should be restored before 11pm.

Back inside, Lucie broke out candles and flashlights and we left the blinds open until the sun dropped entirely.

The silence was nice.

And the storm had cooled things down.

Alec and I goofed around making shadow puppets with my phone’s led instead of with candle light.

Then the three of us went out for soft yogurt.

We came home. Alec went to bed. I went out back for my first cigar since the 4th of July.

Lucie fell asleep on the sofa.

Did I mention how nice the silence was?

There’s something very correct about darkness and silence at night.

I watched the power company drive backwards into our alley. I didn’t get a photo but I should’ve. Their truck was all lit up.

They slowly brought the neighborhood back up, section by section and our power was restored by 10:45. They called it.

8 Comments to “For the Time Capsule – Sunday Wordy Sunday”

I wish to enter into the record that I took Alec clothes shopping, but neither The Gap nor Old Navy had size 29X32 pants. At The Gap Alec tried on 30X32 pants, to no avail. Before entering the dressing room he wrote “Skippy” on the little chalkboard that lets the associate know who is in the dressing room.

*Sigh* Poignant, and everyone has one, I guess, but these days never lose their bitter-sweet flavour. Ours isn’t for a little while: we go back in September. Hope Alex’s first day was a good one, Steve.